


Symbiosis: Part III

by SteeleHoltingOn



Series: Symbiosis [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-15 22:15:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12329940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteeleHoltingOn/pseuds/SteeleHoltingOn
Summary: The conclusion to Symbiosis.





	Symbiosis: Part III

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, this is one of those notes no reader wants to get about a series.  Symbiosis: Part III has been on the back burner while I wrote "Ice and Fire" and "Flight Ready." As much as I love Symbiosis, it was my first foray back into the writing groove after a years-long hiatus, and I took the story down a path that ultimately it doesn’t lead to a Happily Ever After for all the characters involved.  
> 
> Really, I’m a romance writer, so this makes me wince.
> 
> I’m also the kind of person who can’t stand to leave a story unfinished, so at the behest of my beta, I’m leaving my thoughts about Symbiosis: Part 3 here to give you some sort of conclusion.  If it's not precisely the happy ending we want, perhaps it will be satisfying, nonetheless. 
> 
> Jane and Thor ...well, they are the ultimate love story.  I adore them, but in a sense, they are a doomed couple because of their mixed heritage. In the first two parts of Symbiosis, I’ve alluded to the life force tying the couple together. Jane’s magic comes from that bond and extends her life span far beyond the typical Midgardian.
> 
> While the first arc of the Symbiosis trilogy has been about Thor and Jane’s love, the second has always been about Loki’s redemption. I’ve waffled with every word I’ve written, debating if Loki can truly be redeemed.  
> 
> Maybe. I'll let you decide.

**Symbiosis: Part III**

 

 

Val serves as Loki’s conscience. With her constant presence, Loki has to learn how to behave, and he does find happiness with his wife and son on Jotunheim. Val fosters with them to learn her magics and becomes good friends with Isleifur. Jane continues to serve as a bridge between Thor and Loki.

The bond between Val and Loki reaches a breaking point when she comes of age and returns to Asgard. As she matures, she fails to shield Loki from her thoughts and actions--to the detriment of their relationship. To protect Loki, the Asgardian healers find a way to magically block their bond.

It is also at the time that Loki’s wife, Grida, passes from old age. Loki, uninterested in maintaining the throne in the wake of the funeral, abdicates in favor of Isleifur.  Loki returns to Asgard long enough for Thor to note his brother’s jealousy over Thor and Jane’s relationship, and his despair over his lost bond with Val. Thor offers an alternative so that Loki doesn’t have to reside on Asgard. Loki spends the next couple of hundred years on Alfheim, living a sybaritic existence fueled by loneliness and luxury.

With the bond blocked, Val is forced to grow up. In time, she learns to think for herself and not rely on Loki’s constant guiding presence. She learns more about the life force binding her parents’ lives together and realizes that she will lose them both at the same time, and sooner than anyone would like.

WIth that in mind, Val leaves for Midgard. She is curious about her mother’s people, but she also wishes to escape the constant machinations of the Great Council and their desire to marry her off. Thor and Jane support her decision and thus, Val moves to London, a full thousand years after her parents fought the Dark Elves during the Convergence.

She pretends to be an art collector. In time, she meets Antonio, a wealthy Italian businessman who seems to prefer her company. They are together for a decade before Val makes a hard decision before she leaves. Taking a lesson from Queen Elizabeth I, Val decides she will not marry. Instead, she chooses to become pregnant without telling Antonio.

When Jane discovers Val is carrying twins, she heads first to Alfheim, where she discovers Loki has been gone for a number of years. He appears on Asgard not too long afterward, and Jane has her suspicions about “Antonio’s” identity, though Loki dodges any real discussion.

Val publicly claims her children to be solely her own when they are born.

It is during this time that Thanos makes his move to take over the universe. As he collects the Infinity Stones, Loki steals the Mind Gem out of the Vault on Asgard and hides it on Jotunheim.

Thor leads the Asgardian armies with both Loki and Val at his side. Jane remains on Asgard with the twin heirs to the throne. Thor has aged far beyond his years, a result of sharing his life force with Jane. She cannot survive without his magic. Loki resents the pair, but only because there is only one tragic ending to that story.

In a showdown on Jotunheim with Thanos, it is Val and Isleifur who are cornered as they protects the Mind Gem, but though Val has strong magic, she lacks the skill to use it. She reaches for Loki’s mind. They break through the healer's block and it is Loki who commands the magics through Val that brings down Thanos. The connection between them is permanently burned out.

In the wake of the battle, Val is hailed a hero and has fulfilled the prophecies about the Fifth Queen of Asgard.

The long war has sapped Thor’s life force, and it is shortly after the last battle that he and Jane are laid to rest, far too soon for an Asgardian King not slain in battle.

It is Loki who crowns Val queen. Though he grieves, he takes the reins of the Great Council as her advisor, and Asgard leads a peaceful existence throughout her reign.

 

* * *

 

And so Loki was a king of Jotunheim, but not Asgard. He serves the Great Council against his own youthful desires as his parents wished. He is not the hero of the War with Thanos. It is Val who is renowned through Nine Realms and Isleifur on Jotunheim for the victory. He cannot claim Val’s children, for she does not know. 

He must serve in the shadows, as always. 

But in truth, it was never about Val.

She would discover, in time, that Loki had always been in love with Jane. 

 

 


End file.
